Here are some fast facts about the community colleges in Iowa.
Michael Zamora/The Register

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Mark Bonneville, a former electrical technology instructor at Southwestern Community College, stands inside one of his recent work sites on Thursday, Dec. 14, 2017, in Creston. (Photo: Kelsey Kremer/The Register)Buy Photo

For nearly two years, an unqualified instructor taught students in Southwestern Community College’s electrical technology program that prepares people for entry-level electrician positions and for passing a state licensing exam.

While former Southwestern instructor Mark Bonneville met community college and Department of Education qualifications to teach at the institution, he did not meet standards established by Iowa’s post-secondary electrical program, which is overseen by the Iowa Electrical Examining Board, an official with the board said.

Now the community college’s program is under review by the examining board, which is also mulling whether additional oversight is needed for the state’s six journeyman electrician technical programs.

The 21 students who took classes in Southwestern Community College’s electrical technology programs between August 2015 and April 21, 2017, have been offered the opportunity to retake courses, free of charge. The college has also offered to pay students’ costs to take an 18-hour Iowa Electrical Journeyman exam refresher course.

“We think the students (who were taught by Bonneville) got a good education,” said Bill Taylor, vice president of instruction at Southwestern, which has campuses in Creston, Osceola and Red Oak. “Many are out in the workforce today.

“I think the resolution we came to with the board was a good one.”

Class A licenses required to teach

The state’s licensing program for electricians began in 2008. Those who pass the exam and meet specific work requirements receive Class A licenses.

The examining board requires post-secondary program instructors to have Class A master or Class A journeyman electrician licenses, or bachelor’s or associate’s degrees in an electrical-related field.

Bonneville, who has 35 years of experience as a contractor and electrician, did not meet those requirements, officials said. However, the 57-year-old has a Class B license, which was provided to experienced electricians grandfathered into the state’s licensing program but who did not take the licensing exam.

Bonneville was hired in August 2015 after the program’s previous instructor resigned.

College officials knew Bonneville had a Class B license when he was offered the teaching job, Taylor said. He said he contacted someone at the electrical bureau before Bonneville was hired to make sure Bonneville’s licensure level would not be an issue.

“We were told that he met the qualifications — that his Class B license wouldn’t be an issue,” Taylor said. “We were quite surprised to learn that he didn’t meet the requirements.”

According to the examining board’s policy, post-secondary programs must notify the board regarding “a significant change in circumstance involving an instructor.”

That includes notifying the board when an instructor resigns and new ones are hired, said Brian Young, the electrical bureau’s chief electrical inspector and executive secretary. He said the board wasn’t notified when Bonneville was hired.

“The college should have done a better job at verifying what was required,” Young said. Bonneville “taught classes that he should not have been teaching.”

School's electrical program beginnings

Southwest Community College began the two-year associate’s electrical technology degree program in the 2011 fall semester “to help fill the workforce need for qualified electricians,” according to the letter college officials sent students who took classes taught by Bonneville.

The community college applied for and received $366,666 in state Accelerated Career Education money from the Iowa Department of Economic Development to help pay for an addition to the institution’s Tech Center. The $700,000 addition included two classrooms, a lab, offices and storage, state documents show.

The electrical technology program’s first instructor resigned in June 2015, according to community college trustee minutes.

Bonneville said Taylor contacted him about the job. Taylor said he doesn’t remember whether he contacted Bonneville.

“One of the first things (Taylor) asked me was what level of license did I have,” Bonneville said. “I told him I was a B master electrician and he said they could work with that.

“I had no reason to wonder or investigate what the qualifications actually were,” he said.

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Mark Bonneville, a former electrical technology instructor at Southwestern Community College, replaces the cover of a breaker box in a garage he did the electrical work for on Thursday, Dec. 14, 2017, in Creston. (Photo: Kelsey Kremer/The Register)

On Aug. 26, 2015, Bonneville began teaching at the college. Bonneville said about two weeks into the semester he learned he didn’t have the appropriate teaching qualifications.

“I asked Bill Taylor privately in a meeting if the state was OK with me teaching and he told me that ‘we’re not going to push that issue,’” Bonneville said.

Taylor said he recalls telling Bonneville and others that state officials said Bonneville’s level of license was not an issue.

“I thought Mark was a good teacher,” said Adam Palmer, 38, who was enrolled in the Southwestern program when Bonneville was an instructor. “I learned quite a bit from him.”

Conflict with college leads to instructor leaving job

Bonneville, who was paid $47,026.51 in 2016-17, said college officials’ concerns about the level of his license led to pressure on him to resign.

The difficulties began midway through the spring 2017 semester, Bonneville said. He said some students complained to college administrators that he was too strict, used inappropriate language in the classroom, and referred to some students as “mamas’ boys.”

Bonneville acknowledged he was strict and made the comments some students complained about.

“I told the students that I very much expected them to act like adults in my classroom,” he said. “That meant being on time and turning work in on time and communicating. I said, ‘We teach employability.’”

When a student’s mother complained to the administration about an attendance issue, Bonneville said he asked students to consider what would happen if someone's mother complained to their boss. "I said out in the workforce, they’d be called a mama’s boy and within two or three weeks, they’d be terminated,” he said.

In April, Bonneville said he was notified that school administrators wanted to discuss his classroom conduct. He said he was sent home on paid administrative leave and never returned to the classroom.

Bonneville said he agreed to resign after the college agreed to pay him through the end of his contract. Bonneville said he believes the college wanted to cut ties with him because he didn’t have the appropriate credentials to teach the classes.

Taylor said Bonneville voluntarily resigned from the college. He declined to offer more specifics, saying it was a personnel issue.

In July, the community college hired Josh Keul to teach courses in its electrical program. According to trustee minutes, Keul has an Iowa Class A master electrician license.

After Bonneville's contract with the college ended in June, Bonneville said he contacted the examining board and told them he had taught students at the college and that he had a Class B license.

Students can take licensing exam

Post-secondary electrical program administrators are required to prepare annual reports that must include instructor’s qualifications, according to the examining board’s policy. The reports, however, aren’t required to be submitted to the board unless it specifically requests a copy, the policy states.

Southwestern has not turned in an annual report since the program began. If it had, the board may have seen Bonneville listed as the instructor and that he had a Class B license, a Register review of the community college’s annual report found.

The board, which has the authority to withdraw its approval of Southwestern’s program, is considering requiring the college to submit annual reports, said Young, with the state’s electrical bureau.

Asked if the board is considering requiring all of the post-secondary electrical programs to submit reports, Young, said “the board is reviewing the situation and considering options on how to improve.”

In the meantime, Southwestern Community College has attempted to notify by registered letter all of the students who took courses from Bonneville, Taylor said. To date, no one has requested to retake any of the courses, he said.

Young said that any of the students who took classes taught by Bonneville who want to take the journeyman’s exam will be allowed to as long as they meet the other licensing requirements.